What Are the Main Symptoms of Anxiety?
Anxiety is an unpleasant combination of emotions that is often accompanied by physical sensations such as heart palpitations (irregular heart beat), nausea, angina (chest pain), shortness of breath, tension headache, and nervousness making it hard for the person with anxiety to relax. In progressed cases it can lead to panic attacks. Many times these symptoms can mimic heart-related conditions (e.g. a heart attack) and as a result, people may end up at their doctors office or the emergency room.
Stress, though a major contributor of anxiety, is different. Anxiousness due to stress lasts for only a few hours to a day, while anxiety may last up to six months.
What causes it? An underlying medical condition, genetic predispositions, a lack of coping skills, trauma, medication and nutritional deficiencies are some of the main causes of anxiety.
What are my treatment options? Generally in conventional medicine, anxiety disorders are treated with medications, specific types of psychotherapy, or both. Treatment choices depend on the symptoms and what the individuals health care provider recommends for his or her patient.
Conventional approaches:
Medication with SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) including effexor, celexa, cipralex and paxil. Medication as the sole treatment for anxiety has many drawbacks. It is not a cure, but instead a temporary solution leading to a dependency on the drug and withdrawal effects when coming off it. People medicated with one of these often desribe their feelings as being flat - like they are a zombie. Sometimes this is better then the alternative of being anxious all day but othertimes it is replacing one issue with another. Other common side effects include nausea, fatigue, headaches, weight gain and changes in sexual behaviour (erectile dysfunction and diminished libido).
Natural alternative or complimentary options:
Identifying the cause of anxiety is the first step towards recovery. Is it the result of a stressful environment at school or work, stress in some other aspect of your life (e.g. family) or perhaps you have a genetic predisposition, nutrient deficiencies or a lack of coping skills?
Depending on what the cause is, the following have been found to be very helpful in the treatment of anxiety:
If you wish to identify the cause of and treat your anxiety and stress with natural medicine come visit us at KIH clinic. We are located in right in the heart of the Kleinburg village. Fill out the form to the right of this page and we will get right back to you promptly with up-to-date, accurate and useful information on the next best steps in the treatment of your condition/concern.